An ePRO record is a participant-specific instance of an ePRO form, created each time the form is sent. There are seven ways to generate and share one. They differ in who receives it, how the answer is linked to a subject, and who enters the data.
🔑 Prerequisite: ePRO Records List (Access, Add) to invite a subject, and ePRO Settings (Access) to generate QR codes.
To send by Email or SMS, or to use a QR code with participant login, go to Settings › Options › Enable subject personal information and turn on Activate Email, Phone Number, and Language.
Which method do you need?
Method | Use it when |
The questionnaire always follows the same event. Nobody has to remember to send it. | |
Ad hoc invitations, one subject or several at a time. | |
The investigator is already in the subject's eCRF during a visit. | |
The participant is in front of you and answers on their own phone. No login, no installation. | |
You hand the participant a tablet or a computer at the site. | |
The participant cannot answer on a device themselves, so the investigator enters the answers for them. | |
Open collection, for example a poster in a waiting room, with answers separated by center. |
Using automations
An automation sends the questionnaire on its own when a given event happens in the study. It is the most common way to run ePRO at scale.
Three events can trigger an ePRO:
Trigger | What it means |
Question | A specific answer is given to a specific question. The question can come from an eCRF, an eConsent or another ePRO. |
Subject Randomized | The subject has been allocated to a randomization group. |
ePRO survey sent | Another ePRO has been sent to the subject, which lets you chain questionnaires one after another. |
🔍 Examples
The investigator answers Yes to a question in the inclusion visit eCRF, and the participant receives a quality-of-life questionnaire seven days later. Trigger Question on the eCRF, action Send ePRO Survey, period 7 days.
A first questionnaire is sent, then a follow-up one 30 days later. Trigger ePRO survey sent on the first form, action Send ePRO Survey on the second, period 30 days.
🛠️ Step by step guide
Go to Automation in your study
Click + New automation and enter a name
Select a trigger, then the source form and question
Define the condition, for example answer equal to Yes
Under Action, select Send ePRO Survey
Choose the ePRO form to send
Set the Period before sending, for example 7 days
Customise the email subject and body, then Save
⚠️ Warning
The minimum period is one minute, but in practice expect 5 to 10 minutes between the event and the actual send. An automation is working correctly even if nothing has arrived after two minutes.
If the participant has no email address on file, the automation fails silently. The record is created and stays at Created, and nothing tells you the send did not happen. Turn on Email mandatory in Settings › Options › Enable subject personal information to prevent it.
The trigger and the action cannot be changed once saved. Test your workflow on a draft study before go-live.
See Create and Configure Automations for the full setup.
Manually from ePRO records
🛠️ Step by step guide
Go to the ePRO records section in your study
Click + Invite subjects
Select a communication option: Email, SMS, or No invitation
Choose the ePRO form to send
Select the subject or subjects to receive the form
Optionally, click Customize Your Email to personalise the message
Click Invite. A new ePRO record is created for each selected subject and appears in the dashboard
💡 Tip: the same invitation screen is available from the subject's own page, under the ePRO tab. Useful when you are already looking at that subject.
From within the eCRF
An action button can be placed inside an eCRF form, so that the investigator sends the questionnaire without leaving the visit. It has to be configured once in the builder.
🛠️ Step by step guide
Part 1: configure the eCRF
Go to the eCRF Builder
In the relevant form, click Add question
Select the question type ePRO invitation
Optionally, change the label, for example Send Day 1 Questionnaire
Save
Part 2: use the button
Open the subject's eCRF
Go to the form containing the action button
Click the ePRO invitation button
Select the ePRO form
Optionally, customise the email
Click Invite. A new ePRO record is created and linked to the subject
On-site via QR code
🛠️ Step by step guide
Go to ePRO records
Use filters to find the record
Click the three dots next to the record
Select Open with QR Code
Ask the participant to scan it with their device. The ePRO opens instantly, with no login and no installation
On-site with a device
🛠️ Step by step guide
Go to ePRO records
Use filters to find the record
Click the three dots next to the record
Select Open in new tab
Hand the device to the subject, who completes the ePRO in the browser
With investigator assistance
If the participant cannot use a device, the investigator can ask the questions and enter the answers on their behalf.
🛠️ Step by step guide
Go to ePRO records
Use filters to find the record
Click the three dots next to the record
Select Edit
Ask the subject the questions and enter their responses
⚠️ Warning: the audit trail records this entry as completed by the investigator, not by the subject. The answer is no longer strictly participant-reported, so make sure this practice is covered by your study procedures before using it.
QR code per center, for open collection
A QR code can also be generated for the form itself, rather than for one record. One QR code is created per center, so that answers can be told apart by where they came from.
🛠️ Step by step guide
Go to ePRO forms
On the form, click the three dots and select Settings
Open the QR Code tab
Turn on Generate QR-codes
Fill in the Landing Page Title and Landing Page Description, which is what the participant reads after scanning
Turn Email required on or off, then Save
The QR codes become available once the form is saved
Email required, and what it decides
Email required is not a formality. It decides whether the answers you collect can ever be linked to a person.
Email required on: the participant enters their email address after scanning. The record is linked to an identified subject, and can be followed up.
Email required off: nothing identifies the person. A subject is still created when they answer, but it can never be linked back to a real individual.
⚠️ Warning: with Email required off, the choice cannot be undone after the fact. An answer collected anonymously can never be attributed, so no follow-up, no query and no correction is possible on that record. Use it only for a study designed to be anonymous, typically without an eCRF.
Subjects created by a scan do appear in the compliance dashboard, since answering creates a record. Read that rate with care: those subjects were never expected to answer anything, so their compliance says very little.
Resend an ePRO record
If a participant needs a reminder, the invitation can be sent again.
🛠️ Step by step guide
Go to the ePRO records section
Use filters to locate the record
Click the three dots next to the record
Select Resend
Choose a communication method: Email or SMS
Optionally, click Customize Your Email to update the message
Click Invite
💡 Tip: select several records at once and a bulk resend option appears at the bottom of the screen. You can also use Copy Link to share access through another channel, such as a secure portal.